Christmas 2012

Trey at his Preschool Christmas party singing Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer

 

We started the Christmas season with a lot of cold and flu symptoms.  I think everyone had a cold at least once in the past few weeks.  A cold wasn't enough for Curtis.  His back has been bothering him for a few months he decided it was time to seek medical treatment.  He had a few Dr. appts, an epidural injection, and MRI, and finally came to the resolution that it was time to have another back surgery for a herniated disk.  That is on the calendar for January 8th.

Trey had his annual Pre-School Party.  The kids did a really good job performing this year.  Since all 3 kids have gone to Miss Angela's preschool and I have seen this many times.  These kids really got into it this year.  Her little dog Iris was dressed as a reindeer.

 We made gingerbread houses this year.  The kids did a great job with them and got creative and added their own details to make each one unique.  They really enjoyed making them and eating them.

Christmas morning, right before the kids tear into the paper to see what Santa brought.

As usual, they were spoiled rotten.  They each got a personalized crazy straw with their name making the straw crazy. 

 Trey got this fun little car track with cars that ran through it really fast. He played with it most of the Day, along with a few remote control cars.  Derek got a wave board, like a wiggly skateboard.  Dax was excited they get the next two books in the Psion Beta series.  The thriller for all three boys was the Lego Batman game for Xbox.  They have really had a lot of fun with it.

Grandpa Brent sent everyone in the family a matching BYU sweatshirt.  Something Dad was thrilled to get and see his family in.

We are very blessed to have so much.  We wanted to give back a little so I went with Dax and Derek to work at the Chandler Food Bank.  They really worked hard helping to fill some carts of food for the needy people in the community, and I think they enjoyed it as well.  It is a nice thing for them to do while they are on break.  I think we will try to do it more often.

Derek's Big Day

Derek turned 9 on December 23rd.  When I asked him wanted he wanted to do for his Birthday he said to go to Flagstaff, see Papa, and play in the snow.  I thought it was a great idea since his birthday is so close to Christmas, it is hard for us parents to make it a big deal for him, and Flagstaff actually had a decent amount of snow at the time.

We pulled all of our winter coats/ snow clothes out of the closet and hauled them up to Flagstaff.  The kids were happy just playing in the snow in the backyard.  Since it was Derek's birthday I decided to get them these little saucer sliders.  Trey calls his the "skateboard"  and he loved the blue one he picked out.

They played with them that night as soon as I brought them home.  They had a great time in Papa's backyard, even though I didn't think there was much of a slope or even snow for that matter.

I just took them around the corner to the ballparks, where we used to sled as kids.  Not much of a slope, but it was all they needed.  They got some good runs in.  It was a fun day for the kids, and Papa was glad to have us visit.  We gave him his Christmas gifts of a bass (from Bass Pro) antenna decoration and a photo book I made of old photos which he really liked.

Then we headed home to open gifts with Dad.  Derek got a watch that lights up green, and red and does all kinds of stuff, and the Kinect game Wipeout. We also went to dinner at the Teppanyaki  Grill.  The kids were not all that excited at first.  Then when the flames, knives, and onion volcano they loved it.  They said it was dinner and a show.  Happy Birthday, Derek.  You are a great kid and we love you.

The Little Things

It is cold and flu season and these past few weeks, we have all been sick.

Last week I had a really bad cold, which turned into a sinus infection.  It has been a while since I have felt that sick.  I usually make the kids their lunches before school each day.  It was one of those days that I felt horrible and I would have loved to stay in bed and tell them to get school lunch.  The only problem was Derek was going on a field trip to see the play "The Quilt maker's Gift"and of all the days for me to be sick, he had to have a sack lunch.  I got out of bed and started making their lunches.  I figured as long as I was up, I might as well make Trey a lunch now too, because I didn't know if I would have the energy to make him one at lunch time.  I made him the exact same lunch as Derek and put it in a lunch sack with his name on it, just like I do for Derek.  Trey saw that and he was so excited.  "I get my own lunch sack" He was just excited to open it up and see what was in it.  Of course he ate the Oreos, and Capri Sun first, then the grapes, not sure if he ever ate the sandwich.  When he was done I threw it all away.  A few days later he kept asking where his "own" lunch sack was.  I told him I threw it away because  the sack gets torn etc..  I made him another one, just like Derek and he was just as excited to have his own lunch sack.  These little things make him so excited to be like his brothers.

Yesterday morning, I was up getting ready for the day and it was getting late, the boys are usually up by this time.  The days are short, it is dark later, so it seems the boys have a harder time getting up. It was about 7:30 and Trey woke up and came in to see me. I asked him how he was etc. then I said "Are your brothers up?" he said "no", I said "not one of them??"  Dax is usually up, bathed, dressed by now.  Trey no "no, not two of them"  ha ha they take things so literal.

Baseball

Derek had been wanting to play Baseball for a while, there is no way I wanted to sit through those games in the summer, so I waited until Fall to sign him up.
 His team name was the Giants.  Apparently, I picked the wrong league because we didn't know one kid on his team, not from school, church, or the neighborhood, and the games were in Tempe.
He started out strong and seemed to have some good batting skills etc, then the season was pretty UN-eventful and we wondered how much Derek even wanted to be there.  Then the last game Derek got up, swung the bat, gave the ball a good spank and he hit a double.  Great job!!  Up to that point, the game was beyond boring.  The pitcher from the other team was a little wild, the coach had him too far back (these kids are only 8 playing on a middle school field) and everyone was getting walked.  Derek's team won their last game because of his great play.

New Cousins

 My Brother Darrell's twins arrived on 11/20/12.

The boy is named Drew Robert, and the girl is Harper Kayla.  All is well and very healthy for the twins.

When the babies were born Darrell sent an e-mail with pictures.  I showed them to the boys and Trey could not wait to see those babies.  He asked me where they were and I told him the Hospital where they were born.  He kept asking if we could go to the "Dr. place" to see the babies.  Trey and I went and visited them in the Hospital.  We were their first visitors.  Trey kept talking about them and wanted to see visit them again he keeps calling them "My Babies" and sometimes he mentions "my baby cousins"  He keeps asking when they will walk and move like him.

Papa with Drew and Kayla

Dax holding Drew

Derek and Trey with Harper